Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

LEVI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Levi Strauss & Co. in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.43.

Levi Strauss & Co. Stock Up 0.3%

LEVI stock opened at $20.22 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.78 billion, a PE ratio of 12.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Levi Strauss & Co. has a twelve month low of $17.72 and a twelve month high of $25.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $22.87 and its 200-day moving average is $22.13.

Levi Strauss & Co. (NYSE:LEVI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 8th. The blue-jean maker reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Levi Strauss & Co. had a return on equity of 25.79% and a net margin of 9.66%.Levi Strauss & Co.’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. Levi Strauss & Co. has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.460-1.520 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Levi Strauss & Co. will post 1.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Levi Strauss & Co. Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 22nd were issued a $0.16 dividend. This is an increase from Levi Strauss & Co.’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 22nd. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Levi Strauss & Co.’s payout ratio is presently 39.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Harmit Singh sold 98,144 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.22, for a total transaction of $2,377,047.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 98,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,391,652.34. This trade represents a 49.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Levi Strauss & Co. by 0.5% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,644,561 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock worth $40,834,000 after buying an additional 7,827 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its stake in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. by 74.3% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 811,600 shares of the blue-jean maker’s stock valued at $20,152,000 after buying an additional 345,855 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at $127,000. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Levi Strauss & Co. during the 2nd quarter worth $900,000. 69.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Levi Strauss & Co.

Levi Strauss & Co is a global apparel company best known for its Levi’s brand of denim jeans and related clothing. Its product portfolio includes jeans, tops, jackets, footwear, accessories and other casualwear, sold through company-operated stores, digital channels, wholesale partners and distributors.

Founded in 1853 by Levi Strauss, the company is headquartered in San Francisco, California. In addition to Levi’s, its brand portfolio includes Dockers, Beyond Yoga, Signature by Levi Strauss & Co and Denizen.